Judge dismisses Trump administration lawsuit against Harvard

A federal judge in Boston dismissed the Trump administration’s civil rights lawsuit against Harvard University on Thursday, ruling that the government had not plausibly shown the school was committing ongoing violations of federal law in its treatment of Jewish and Israeli students.

U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns said the lawsuit, filed in March, relied heavily on incidents tied to campus protests and tensions after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack and Israel’s war in Gaza during the 2023-24 academic year. Later allegations, including a handful of incidents cited in March 2025, were “too isolated and episodic” to support a claim that Harvard was currently violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, he ruled.

Title VI bars discrimination based on race, color and national origin in programs that receive federal funding. The administration had accused Harvard faculty and leaders of turning “a blind eye to antisemitism and discrimination against Jews and Israelis,” and said in court filings that it sought to “recover billions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies awarded to a discriminatory institution.”

The Justice Department’s complaint described Jewish and Israeli students as having been “harassed, physically assaulted, stalked, and spat upon,” while alleging that Harvard’s leadership had done nothing in response. The administration argued that the university’s handling of those incidents violated federal civil rights law.

Stearns rejected the administration’s legal theory in a brief ruling. He said he was not “diminishing any concern arising” from campus events immediately after the Hamas attacks, but found that the government’s complaint misconstrued the purpose of Title VI enforcement. The law, he wrote, was designed not to punish a “wayward funding recipient” for past conduct, but to encourage compliance going forward.

The judge also said the lawsuit did not adequately allege failures by Harvard after the government notified the university in June 2025 that it was not complying with Title VI. According to The Guardian, Stearns said the amended complaint was “devoid of any factual allegations” showing noncompliance after that notice. He described the government’s warnings about future problems as “the government’s fevered forewarning of potential havoc.”

The White House and Harvard did not immediately respond to requests for comment, NBC News reported.

Harvard has denied the administration’s claims. In an earlier statement, the university called the lawsuit “yet another pretextual and retaliatory action by the administration for refusing to turn over control of Harvard to the federal government.” In a June court filing asking Stearns to dismiss the case, Harvard said the government had not alleged ongoing or imminent Title VI violations.

“Harvard condemns antisemitism and is committed to ensuring that Jewish and Israeli students, like all members of the Harvard community, can learn and participate fully in campus life free from harassment or exclusion,” the university said.

The lawsuit was part of a broader conflict between the Trump administration and Harvard. The administration has also appealed a judge’s order finding that it unlawfully terminated more than $2 billion in grants awarded to the university and could no longer cut off its research funding. In another case, a federal judge last year blocked the administration’s efforts to revoke Harvard’s ability to enroll international students.